Real Estate Blog - home renovations

How to Prioritize Home Renovations

Whether you’ve bought a fixer-upper, or your property simply needs an update, homeowners may find themselves confronted with multiple renovations at a time. Upgrading your home can also be  contagious—once you update one room, it can feel tempting to do them all. If you’re looking at several home renovations on your to-do list, where do you even start? How do you decide what projects come first and what tasks can sit on the back burner? 

Rebecca Hay, president and principal designer of Rebecca Hay Designs, gives us some pointers on how to prioritize home renovations.

How to decide where to start

You have several areas of your home that need a renovation—the kitchen is dated, the entryway isn’t functional, and the bathroom…

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Why You Should Live in Your Home Before Renovating it

Buying a new home is exciting, but depending on where you are on the property ladder, you may not be getting a move-in ready property. Although it can be tempting to jump right in to transform your space, it’s not always a good idea to rip down walls as soon as you close the sale. Here’s why you should put down that sledgehammer and take your time instead. 

1. You’ll learn about your home and its pain points

Whether you buy a total fixer-upper, an older home that needs minor updates, or a newly built place you want to personalize, it’s smart to play the waiting game before embarking on major renovations, says David Stevens, a REALTOR® in Victoria, British Columbia.

“I tell my purchasers I’d like to see them in the house for 12 months…

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5 Trading Spaces Room Makeovers That Missed the Mark

As the 1990s and 2000s make a comeback in the form of TV, film, and fashion, we can’t help but be nostalgic about original home improvement shows that paved the way for so many of today’s reality home shows. 

The most notable of these classic shows is TLC’s Trading Spaces. The premise is simple: two sets of neighbours swap homes and transform a room in two days with a budget of $1,000 using the help of expert designers. This format made the show, which ran from 2000 to 2009 before its 2018 reboot, a huge hit. 

Trading Spaces’ successful results inspired a generation of reno enthusiasts to try their hand at updating their own spaces, but sometimes left homeowners shocked and even in tears. 

While it may seem like these things were done…

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What to Know About Updating Your Windows

Outside of “are there enough of them” or “will they let in enough natural light,” windows aren’t typically top of mind for most people. Despite being an important detail that can help add to the value of your home, it’s typically not until problems such as physical damage, drafts, water leaks, or noise pollution appear that windows are considered.

Though it’s common in homes 20 years or older still fitted with their original windows, it goes without saying updating or completely replacing windows will be necessary at one stage or another. But how do you know when it’s time to change or upgrade your windows? How do you determine the type of window that best suits your home and their impact on your home’s energy-efficiency? Let’s find out!

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5 Savvy Ways to Save Money on Your Next Renovation

Renovating your home is a big decision and often an expensive one. After weeks or months of planning, saving money or acquiring financing, your dream home is finally within sight! Be warned, however, completing these renovations requires thorough research if you hope to stay on budget. Renovating is exciting and friends, family and neighbours will all offer advice and tips aplenty. You need to verify and evaluate all the ways you can save money on your next renovation. Read on for ways to save on your renovation and save yourself a bundle!

5 Savvy Ways to Save Money on Your Renovation

1. Make A Budget and Draw Up a Roadmap

Going over-budget when renovating is easier than you might think, making it the most significant threat to your…

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The Reality of Home Improvement Shows

There’s a certain something about home renovation shows that keeps us glued to the TV. They provide us with inspiration for current or future projects (Fixer Upper). They tell stories that tug at our heartstrings (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition). They also give us hope that even the most demanding renovations can be completed in a blink of an eye (Property Brothers). 

We often see rooms or even entire houses get transformed in what seems to be a matter of days, and the final reveal always appears perfect. How do contractors on these home renovation shows manage to wrap up projects so quickly without issues? How do they obtain permits without delays? Do their renovations stand the test of time? Will the updates actually increase the value of the…

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How to Rip Up Carpet Properly

Well, it’s finally time. That dingy, worn-out carpet—the one that prompts cringy expectations of runs and pulls every time you get out the vacuum—has got to go. If you’re lucky, and your home was built before the 1980s, there’s potentially gorgeous hardwood flooring hiding under it. Even if you plan to replace the carpet or install a floating laminate floor, read on as a DIY carpet removal is fairly easy and can save you money if you plan to go with a new floor install.

Buried treasure?

The older your home is, the more likely the possibility of hidden hardwood under the carpeting. Due to how expensive repairing, restoring, or removing hardwood floors can be, previous homeowners may have opted to install…

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Rub-A-Dub-Dub: How to Choose Your Ideal Bathtub

You’ve probably heard the term “self-care” a lot in the past few years. The World Health Organization offers a broad definition, but at its core, self-care is about “the individual person who acts to preserve health.”

Everyone’s version of self-care will differ, but taking a luxurious bath is a popular choice—and one that’s scientifically backed. Baths can help with sleep, mood regulation, and easing muscle tension, and one Lakehead University researcher is even conducting a study into how a warm bath could help with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. On a lighter scale, baths can help your overall mental state–a quiet space with relaxing scents and softer lighting can help ease your mind–and, if it’s your thing, promote meditation.

If…

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DIY Mistakes You Can Avoid

Thanks to social media platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram, there’s an almost infinite amount of DIY inspiration out there. However, before you tackle that built-in bookcase or refresh your home with paint, you should know the DIY world is full of common—but thankfully avoidable—mistakes. To help you navigate your next DIY project, we spoke with three local home-owning DIY pros about the most common mistakes that are made.

Not doing enough research beforehand 

When renovating her home, Tobie (@tobesgoesdiy) says she didn’t do enough research on installing tongue and groove laminate flooring and ended up installing it backwards. Similarly, in one of her first tiling projects, Dalyn…

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Top Tips for Making Your Home Renovation Pet-Friendly

A home renovation can be pretty exciting, especially if you’re finally in a position to make long-awaited changes.

If you have pets, a home renovation is an excellent opportunity to make life easier for both you and them, with a few extra additions. Taking your pets’ habits, age and patterns into account as you plan for renovations could make all the difference in creating a safer, healthier and happier environment for your four-legged family members!

Don’t go anywhere – in this article we’ll be listing some of our top tips for making your home renovation more pet-friendly.

Making Your Home Renovation Pet-Friendly

Opt for an Optimized Mudroom

When Fido is frolicking through a wet or muddy backyard, he’s…

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